KATHMANDU, JANUARY 15

The government has formed a five-member probe committee to investigate Yeti Airlines plane crash near Pokhara Regional International Airport today. An emergency Cabinet meeting held today decided to form a panel under former government secretary Nagendra Ghimire to investigate the accident and submit its report within 45 days, said government Spokesperson and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

Retired brigadier general of Nepali Army Deepak Prakash Bastola, retired Captain Sunil Thapa, and aviation repairing expert Ekraj Jung Thapa are the members of the panel. Joint Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Buddhisagar Lamichhane is the member -secretary of the probe panel.

The government also announced a public holiday tomorrow to mourn the loss of lives caused by the plane crash. 'The Cabinet expresses profound sadness at the incident and condoles the death of those who lost their lives in the incident,' Minister Paudel said. He said the government had ordered technical check of all domestic planes. He said the government would implement the probe panel's report to prevent plane crashes in the future.

The Pokhara bound NYT 691, 9N-ANC plane of Yeti Airlines carrying 72 people, including 68 passengers and four crew members, crashed in a gorge near PRIA after it lost contact with the airport tower at around 10.55am, according to a press release issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. At least 68 of those on board are feared dead. This is the highest number of fatalities involving a domestic airlines flight.

As of today, 104 aeroplane/ helicopter accidents have occurred in Nepal killing more than 900 people.

According to Aviation Safety Report-2022 published by the CAAN in November, 847 people were killed in the past 103 aviation accidents, involving both single/multi-engine aircraft and helicopters.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 16, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.